Preston City Council leader Matthew Brown on sepsis, two week hospital stay and paramedics breaking down the doorReview: A visit to the Preston restaurant that’s Thai-ing up Lane EndsThe boss of an organised crime group who set up a front company to handle returned items for Amazon and Argos has been jailed for 20 years over a plot to import 1.3 tonnes of cocaine into the UK.
The crime group’s plans were ruined when the shipping container was stopped in August 2022 by National Crime Agency partners from Border Force who discovered the haul at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk. The drugs were in 20kg sacks and had a coverload of flour. The property was used to adulterate and mix drugs and officers discovered large amounts of equipment including large cookers, moulds, stamps, a press and chemicals. Schofield admitted importing the 1.3 tonnes and today , at Liverpool Crown Court, was sentenced to 20 years.Martland was convicted at trial of the same offence and was sentenced to 21 years.
“Illegal drugs supply has horrific consequences as we have tragically seen in recent years with entirely innocent members of the public hurt and killed in the crossfire of feuding gangs. Darren Wetton, 54, of Ashby Street, Chorley, was convicted at trial of supplying cannabis between March and December 2022. He was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 18 months.